Fireside Games has announced that beginning January 2016 they will handle all sales to U.S. distributors for the Domestic Hobby Market in-house. This is no change for retailers, who will continue to purchase product, such as Castle Panic, through standard distribution channels. However, Distributors will now work directly with Fireside Games to procure their games. Fireside Games has been represented by Publisher Services Inc. (PSI) for all markets since 2009, and will continue that strong partnership for Specialty, Mass, and International Hobby Markets.

As part of this change, Fireside Games has also announced that Chris Williams will be joining their staff as Domestic Hobby Sales Representative January 4, 2016.

Williams has been in the board game industry for over 25 years and has experience across all facets of the business. He started off in retail at Games of Berkeley, where he supervised and maintained inventory, and then moved on to Berkeley Game Distributors, where he oversaw sales for 5 years.

His experience includes researching and writing fiction and adventure gaming source material for numerous companies, and he worked as the Continuity Expert for Chaosium’s Dreamlands setting. As Managing Editor of Vortext Publishing, he brought that magazine from an unknown publication to an Origins Award nominee within 2 years.

In the late ‘90s, he managed inbound and outbound shipments and assisted the Business Manager with the solicitation of new releases and the writing of advertising copy for R Talsorian Games. Most recently, Williams worked for 1A Games as the Sales & Marketing Manager and then the Operations Manager, where he expanded distribution, increased trade show presence, and managed Kickstarter campaigns.